A feature titled “In Cleveland, Adding Life Where Grit Once Prevailed” in the New York Times Travel section outlined recent developments in the near-west neighborhood of Detroit Shoreway. Writer Erik Piepenburg, who frequently covers Cleveland developments, penned the feature.

“About two miles west of downtown Cleveland, the gritty Detroit-Shoreway was once a vibrant neighborhood before it was hit hard by the exodus of big manufacturing companies in the early decades of the 20th century,” he writes. “Lately, new businesses, arts groups and residents have settled in the Gordon Square Arts District, a revitalized mile-long stretch of Detroit Avenue. A recent $30 million capital campaign included new streetscapes and signage. Visitors can catch a show at the Cleveland Public Theater, walk through galleries at 78th Street Studios or grab a late-night bite at XYZ Tavern. And this spring, the Near West Theater will have a $7.3 million new home.”

In a Quad-City Times feature titled “Cleveland tourism chief tells of visitor successes,” writer Jennifer DeWitt reports about a keynote speech that David Gilbert of Positively Cleveland gave at the annual Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau meeting.

“In his keynote speech at the annual Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau meeting, David Gilbert offered lessons on how his Ohio hometown and surrounding region have rewritten the travel and tourism strategy and found success attracting major tourism events and economic development activity,” DeWitt reports.

"You need to take a look at places like Cleveland and the Quad-Cities and think: 'How do you look and feel like a traveler destination?'" the president and CEO of Positively Cleveland told attendees.

“In the past five years, Cleveland has seen a significant transformation in its travel and tourism industry with $2 billion in new visitor-related infrastructure, including a new convention center, a new casino and nine new hotels, six of which are in its downtown area,” adds DeWitt.

“Thorough research with visitors and residents showed Cleveland needed to "connect the dots" to make the typical traveler's experience as good as its amenities, he said. The research found the region was perceived as difficult to navigate for visitors, had a poor reputation for cleanliness, safety and friendliness, and a low level of residents who would recommend it as a destination for visitors.”

"We had to look at ourselves through the visitor lens," Gilbert said, adding that some changes included signage, streetscaping and encouraging the hospitality industry to promote its strengths.

Conde Nast Traveler has included Trentina restaurant in University Circle among its list of “15 Best New Restaurants in the Midwest.”

Here’s the entry:

Trentina
Cleveland, Ohio

Chef Jonathon Sawyer’s new Cleveland restaurant, Trentina, is an homage to the cuisine of Italy’s Trentino region, his wife’s ancestral home. Sure, there’s house-made pasta, but there’s also “egg cooked in a spoon over embers” and edible beef suet candles. Sit on the patio to order from the a la carte menu, or head inside for the 12-course tasting menu—provided, of course, that you’ve purchased a ticket to the meal in advance.

Women's Health magazine teamed up with Yelp to find the “fittest, artsiest, foodiest, and just plain coolest cities on the rise in America.” The results of their research landed them this list: Social Climbers: 5 Best Up-and-Coming Nightlife Cities. Cleveland is among the best.

“For our first ever Social Cities package in the October 2014 issue of Women's Health, we teamed up with data scientists at Yelp to help us find the best (and most surprising) cities across America for different types of social scenes. For cities to rank high for nightlife, we looked at bars of all types --champagne bars, dive bars, gay bars, hookah bars, Irish pubs, sports bars, wine bars... you name it! We also looked for cities with a ton of dance clubs, night clubs, a solid karaoke scene, pool halls... and so much more. The five fantastic cities that we named our top up-and-coming nightlife hotspots had a LOT of all of the above on offer. If you're looking for a seriously fun road trip with your closest girlfriends, you should definitely add any of these bumping cities to your must-visit list.”

2. Cleveland, OH

“Sure, Cleveland has always rocked. Now, thanks to three reinvigorated neighborhoods, the city's nightlife pulses with a new sophistication. We're not talking cookie-cutter poshness: The after-dark ambience in these trendsetting locales are decidedly diverse.”

In feature titled “Discovering the quirky side of Cleveland,” travel writer Katherine Calos of the Richmond Times-Dispatch focuses on the less conventional side of some Cleveland hotspots.

“You really know a city when you know its quirks. So, let’s get to know Cleveland,” she leads off.

“Where else would you find the world’s largest chandelier hanging over a city street, Froot Loops on hot dogs, religious statues lovingly restored by a makeup artist, a leg lamp in the Christmas house that made it famous, a portrait featuring eye protection from whale-oil lamps and a museum that’s enshrined the remains of a disc jockey?”

Highlighted for inclusion are:

The Happy Dog: “Chili cheese dogs seem a little lame when compared with the Mobile Home-Wrecker, the Sunday Night Special, the 1:45 AM Special and East Meets West -- a few of the suggestions for combining the 50 available toppings for the $5 hot dogs.”

The Playhouse Square Chandelier: “The world’s largest outdoor chandelier, according to the Guinness World Records, became the centerpiece of Cleveland’s theater district in May. It’s already become an icon for Playhouse Square.”

A Christmas Story House: “If you’ve ever marveled at the supreme tackiness of the leg lamp in the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story,” you’ll love it in its natural setting.”

Cleveland Museum of Art: “Put on your coolest shades for a ‘selfie’ with Nathaniel Olds. That’s what he did when he sat for a portrait in 1837. His fashionable green-tinted eyeglasses offered protection from the bright light of Argand lamps, which produced about 10 times as much light as other whale-oil lamps.”

In a travel feature titled “At home -- really -- with Superman,” Charlotte Observer writer John Bordsen spends some quality time in the Cleveland home where Superman was born.

“Superman, the story goes, was born on the planet Krypton and sent to Earth in a small rocket by his father when that planet was about to explode. He was actually born in 1933 in a two-story bungalow in a scruffy neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, probably in the attic.”

The home, in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, was the residence of the Siegel family, whose son Jerry created most famous superhero. Jerry wrote the story while his neighborhood friend Joe Shuster drew the cartoon. Superman’s inaugural appearance was in Action Comics’ first issue, published in 1938.

“Drawing from Tarzan books and comic strips and Tarzan movie star Johnny Weissmuller, plus Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers and other pop idols, their Superman gradually evolved from a villainous mastermind to a good guy with super powers and a secret identity.”

“Cleveland has gotten a bad rap over the years, but the national perception of the Ohio city finally appears to be shifting, boosted by tourism numbers that speak for themselves,” he writes.

“Positively Cleveland -- the official tourism authority of Cleveland -- recently reported visitor expenditures of $7.4 billion for 2013, up 6.7 percent from 2011. That’s in addition to a 4 percent increase in both visitors (15.6 million to 16.2 million) and jobs (63,394) from 2012 to 2013.”

Key developments include a new convention center, hosting the National Senior Games and the Gay Games, and the upcoming Republican National Convention in 2016.

“It was not about politics,” Positively Cleveland President and CEO David Gilbert is quoted in the piece. “It was about, 'We’re going to embrace these 50,000 people that are going to come to our town because they are choosing to come to our town, and it’s our job to make sure that they feel welcomed.'”

“You can argue that Cleveland was in a 40-year recession and, quite frankly, under a lot of pressure. It was the butt of a lot of jokes, starting in the 1960s with Johnny Carson. I think what has come of it is this combination of sophistication and grit. You have this city with great arts and culture, a great culinary scene, pro sports, tremendous parks and Lake Erie in the backdrop of this old manufacturing town. Without the world-class ego. We’re sort of proud of the fact that it’s not all shiny and brand new. It’s a polished-up version of a beautiful old city. And it has a real depth of character and depth of soul to it.”

In an essay for the Daily Meal, a national food and drink publication, Matthew Mytro offers a personal look at his journey to becoming chef-partner at Flour Restaurant.

"If you’d asked me a few years ago, I would have told you that the moment I became a chef was when I put on my crispy white chef’s jacket with my name coupled with ‘executive chef’ at a now-defunct Cleveland restaurant. Looking back, not only was I in fact not a chef, but I really had no idea what I was doing. My chef’s jacket today is blank. The jacket -- or even the title -- does not define me. An inscribed jacket can make you too comfortable. And comfort is a chef’s worst enemy.”

Mytro recalls the precise moment in his life that he knew he wanted to become a chef.

“I was reading Kitchen Confidential on the bus heading home and happened to look up to see a bunch of chefs standing outside in their jackets, talking and smoking. It was this perfect trifecta of events and I was sold. I wanted this life -- or rather, the life I perceived those chefs to have.”

Ultimately, he landed at Flour in Moreland Hills, where he currently is chef and partner.

“I made my way to Flour where I met chef Paul Minnillo, a very well-respected, old school chef. We had instant chemistry. He taught me to take a step back and really focus on the details. He’s made me a better man and a much better chef.”

“I have no regrets about not going to culinary school and think my training and type of education can stack up to any. I learned long ago that school in the traditional sense does not make someone a chef. Discipline, passion, integrity, camaraderie and literally doing whatever it takes, no matter how long you’ve been sporting the coat… That is what makes a chef a chef.”

In a Washington Post item titled “The Gay Games are underway and they’re winning Instagram and Twitter,” Kiratiana Freelon reports on the events currently taking place in Cleveland and Akron and how they are filling social media feeds with positive imagery.

“There’s only one place in the world right now where you will find cheerleaders, track and field athletes, chorus singers and singer Boy George in the same place. That’s the Gay Games in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio,” Freelon writes.

“For the host cities, it’s an opportunity to bring gay communities closer to straight communities, since Akron and Cleveland are not traditionally hailed as gay-friendly cities.”

Tom Nobbe, one of the Games lead organizers, is quoted in the article saying, “The Games are about diversity, about changing hearts and minds.”

“Over the next four days more than 8,500 people will compete in 33 sports, including the traditional ones like track and field, volleyball and wrestling. The competitors will also compete in cultural events like chorus and cheer.”

In a CNN Money feature titled “Cleveland: Booming in more ways than Lebron,” Tom Thriveni reports on the work being done at Cleveland Heartlab specifically and the Health-Tech Corridor in general.

“[Jake] Orville is the CEO of five-year-old Cleveland Heartlab, which has licensed several innovations from researchers at nearby -- and world-renowned -- Cleveland Clinic. The partnership was initiated by the clinic as part of its mission to turn its inventions into commercially viable medical products, generating profits for both parties. To date, besides Heartlab, 66 neighboring companies have spun out from Cleveland Clinic ideas since 2000. All told, the clinic has 525 patents and 450 licensing agreements,” Thriveni writes.

“The 1,600-acre Health-Tech Corridor acts as Cleveland's biomedical nerve center, housing three major health-care institutions besides the Cleveland Clinic, four higher education institutions, more than 130 biomedical and other technology companies and eight incubators that lease space and provide consulting and other business development services. This is where the Cleveland Clinic and other partner organizations, such as incubator BioEnterprise, interact with researchers, clinical caregivers, academics and business executives. State-funded groups like Team NEO (for North East Ohio) were launched to help attract new business to the region. Since Cleveland Heartlab opened in the Health-Tech Corridor's first building, eight additional buildings have opened for tenants. A ninth will open soon.”

On the heels of its multiyear, $320 million renovation and expansion project, the Cleveland Museum of Art is already reaping big gains. Nearly 600,000 visitors came to the museum between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, which was the highest in over a decade and represented a 19% increase over the previous fiscal year.

Museum membership, meanwhile, increased 18% to 23,094, with more than 3,300 new introductory-level members.More than $46 million was raised to support museum operations and programs.

“We are gratified by the continued growth in attendance and membership support, which clearly reflects the excitement being generated by our outstanding new facilities and programming,” said Fred Bidwell, the museum’s interim director.